I write about the intersection of business and the environment and the vital importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues to businesses and the investors that help to fund them. That means anything from climate change to executive pay, as well as disruptive technologies from renewable energy and energy storage to nanotechnology. These issues can have a profound impact on company performance but are still largely ignored by many investors. I have been a journalist for more than 20 years, including 9 years at the Financial Times. Since 2006, as a freelance journalist I have written for a range of titles including the FT, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph as well as for think tanks such as Friends of Europe and corporate clients including Siemens, Rabobank, PwC, Deloitte and AkzoNobel.

Flying By The Sun - Solar Impulse Inspires A Generation

Has there been a more inspiring story than that of Solar Impulse since Man set out to go to the Moon? It is the perfect combination of breathtaking ambition, technological wizardry and bloody-minded determination.

For the Solar Impulse team plans to fly around the world using only the power of the sun and it has just unveiled the aircraft that will help it achieve its goal. In less than a year, the aircraft, fuelled only by the solar cells on its wings, will lift off from a runway somewhere in the Persian Gulf, heading east over the Arabian Sea towards India on the first leg of an impossible journey.

Given the ambition of the project, it seems appropriate that it is led by Bertrand Piccard, whose name echoes Star Trek’s Jean-Luc Picard and who has a similar aim “to boldly go where no man has been before”. Piccard is a doctor, psychiatrist and explorer who made the first non-stop round-the-world balloon flight, and he will be joined in his endeavour by André Borschberg, a former fighter pilot and engineer. The pair will take it in turns to fly the single-seater plane, which will stop in India, Myanmar, China, the US and either Southern Europe or North Africa to enable a switch of pilots.

These changeovers are vital because the aircraft itself is able to stay in the air for days at a time as it does not need to refuel. As it climbs to a cruising altitude of 8,500 metres (27,000 ft), the solar cells will charge the aircraft’s lithium polymer batteries with enough power to fly through the night, slowly descending to about 1,500 metres (almost 5,000 ft) as it conserves power until the sun rises once more and starts to recharge the batteries, enabling the aircraft to climb again.

Even a couple of years ago, such an ambition would have been dismissed as science fiction of the most unrealistic sort – a modern-day version of the Greek myth of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun and plunged back to earth when it melted the wax in his wings. The suggestion that a solar-powered aircraft would fly anywhere, let alone around the world, would have been laughed out of the room.

Today, in the wake of the pair’s 2012 flight across the Mediterranean and their 2013 flight across America, few would bet against it.

After all, if Piccard and Borschberg are 21st-century Icaruses, they are Icaruses with the finest technological, engineering and scientific backing behind them. And unlike the unfortunate ancient Greek, the nearer the Solar Impulse gets to the sun, the more effective its wings become, thanks to their 17,248 solar cells.

The plan has been some 15 years in the making, since Piccard launched the challenge soon after finishing his round-the-world balloon flight. Now the team has unveiled Solar Impulse 2, a bigger version of the plane that flew across the US. It is an aircraft with a 72-metre (236 foot) wingspan that is bigger than a jumbo jet, weighs as much as a small van (2,300kg or 3,530lb) but can transport the same number of people as a bicycle – ie one. Piccard and Borschberg will be in the air for up to five days and five nights at a time – in particular when crossing the Pacific Ocean.

And while the scheme is breathtaking in its ambition on a grand scale, some of the details are staggering, too. The plane will cover around 35,000km (21,748m) and the journey will take around 500 flying hours. Solar Impulse 2 will be able to fly at up to 77 knots (140km/h) although it will fly much slower at night to save energy. It can take off at a speed of just 26 knots (47km/h).

Because of the prevailing trade winds, there will even be times during the night-times of its crossing of the Pacific Ocean when it will be flying backwards. The aircraft’s batteries will make up a quarter of its weight and the pilots will have to cope with temperatures ranging from +40°C to -40°C. The seat will contain not just a life raft and a parachute, but also a toilet and a reclining berth allowing the pilot to take brief naps.

Solar Impulse is not, though, just a testament to ambition and vision. It is a demonstration of the amount of hard work that has to back up that vision. The project is backed by some of the world’s biggest companies and it has driven a number of innovations. SolvaySolvay, the chemicals group, has invented electrolytes that help increase the energy density of the batteries; BayerBayer MaterialScience is allowing the project to make use of its nanotechnologies and providing the insulation materials; Décision is using carbon fibres that are lighter than any previously seen; and ABBABB is working on inverters that get the most out of the sunlight that hits the wings.

All of these innovations have obvious applications back on the ground, in helping to create a low-carbon economy.

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